Big Blue Saw Blog

General Updates

From James T. Kilroy comes a video review of Big Blue Saw's waterjet cutting services. He uses Big Blue Saw to make custom panels for NEMA enclosures, among other things. In the video linked to below he talks about our services and shows you some of the parts he's made. His YouTube series Shop ADHD features discussions of a variety of machine shop and maker topics.

Mr. Kilroy also shared with us this lovely custom pulley he made a little while back with help from Big Blue Saw.

Gavin Kenneally of Ghost Robotics told a little bit more about the Ghost Minitaur via e-mail:

The motors have custom motor drivers and a microcontroller to control them. The legs each work in a plane (2 degrees of freedom), but the body has a sprawl angle, so the left/right pair are not in the same plane.

There are lots of gaits that it can do, and this is ongoing work. So far, bound, pronk, trot, and crawl are possible.

You can see some of the details of the robot below, including waterjet cut parts from Big Blue Saw.

It can even open doors despite its small size.

The video shows more of Ghost Minitaur doing a variety of other tricks like jumping and climbing a fence!

Big Blue Saw's biggest sale ever runs from Monday, September 19 through Wednesday, September 21 thanks to 3 of our most supportive communities of customers. Big Blue Saw is offering discounts on the following THREE materials:

0.1875 inch (4.8 mm) thick aluminum 6061

0.06 inch (1.5 mm) thick stainless steel 304

0.125 inch (3.2 mm) thick aluminum 5052

Each of these materials represent something special to 3 online communities who have helped Big Blue Saw grow over the years.

0.1875" Aluminum 6061

This is the material of choice for the waterjet cut parts of the FarmBot Genesis. Interest in this robotic gardening machine is growing, and Big Blue Saw can help you build yours by cutting the brackets from aluminum.

0.06" Stainless Steel 304

This decorative and tough material makes an excellent keyboard plate for enthusiasts assembling their own custom mechanical switch keyboards. This group needs their keyboards made THEIR way and Big Blue Saw's online quoting and ordering system lets them easily order one off parts.

Stainless steel is renowned for its luxurious appearance and corrosion resistance, making it a great material for decorative pieces like jewelry, charms, and outdoor signs. And recently I read in the RioBotz Combat Robot Tutorial that stainless steel 304 has outstanding mechanical toughness as well.

0.125" Thick Aluminum 5052

The Astromech community is dedicated rebuilding and re-imagining the droids of the Star Wars universe. We first started to see some sales from this group back in 2013, but it wasn't until 2014 when CAD designs for various droid parts became publicly available that sales really took off. Word spread that if you wanted foot shells waterjet cut, Big Blue Saw was the place to go. We waterjet or laser cut a number of different designs over the years for individual hobbyists who want to bring their robotic creations to life.

The Sale

During the sale, all orders placed online for the sale materials will automatically receive a quantity discount.

Let's take a look at what this means for some of our loyal customers.

A set of farmbot brackets, waterjet cut from 0.1875" thick aluminum 6061 is normally priced at $178.00 in quantity 1, but during the sale will be just $142.70, or 20% off.

The Astromech battery box, waterjet cut from 0.125" thick aluminum 5052, normally costs $112.80 in quantity 1. During the sale, this will cost only $77.50, a savings of 31%.

The sample 60% size openable Alps-compatible keyboard plate, waterjet cut from 0.06" stainless steel is usually $92.10 for quantity 1, but during the sale is just $42.00. That's 54% off the regular price!

Order real parts made from your designs by uploading them now to the online quoting system. Remember, the sale runs from Monday, September 19, through Wednesday September 21.

We were contacted by Saiful Islam about a part needed for a soap plodder, which is a type of extrusion machine for making soap. Our services were needed to keep a production line working.

In the photo below, you can see the part Big Blue Saw waterjet cut to keep the production line running. It's a round plate, about 4 inches in diameter, where the soap emerges from the plodder. The hole in the center is shaped to match the profile of the soap.

The shape varies depending on the product being made. Here's another shape we made.

Here's a project that brought Big Blue Saw closer to the final frontier.

Sherman Lam from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) wrote to tell us about how some of the parts from a recent order from Big Blue Saw are being used:

We’re developing a robotic gripper for the Asteroid Redirect Mission. This component (we call it a microspine) will have hooks embedded in it that adhere to rough surfaces. The [image] shows one subassembly of the gripper. This image only shows one microspine unit in the assembly but in flight, there will be 20ish microspines in the assembly. The spacecraft will have 1000s of these hooks on each gripper and it’ll use these grippers to grab onto a boulder.